By the mid-second century BC, the Roman Republic controlled most of the Mediterranean. With few enemies left outside, the Romans began to turn on each other.
Although the plebians and patricians were legally equal by the fourth century BC, some individuals began to exploit their social inequality for political gain. Two factions emerged: the optimates, who generally supported the status quo, and the populares, who generally supported reform. Roman politics soon degraded into violence. The reformers Gaius and Tiberius Gracchus were both assassinated by their opponents in the late 2nd century BC. Ambitious individuals began to flaunt traditions and precedents. Ignoring the accepted ten-year hiatus between terms, the general Gaius Marius had himself elected consul seven times. In attempt to save the Republic, another general named Lucius Cornelius Sulla led his army into Rome and seized power, having himself named dictator. He did temporarily restore the Republic, but showed the next generation that marching an army into the capital was a possible route to power.
In the early first century BC, the Republic became almost completely dominated by three men known as the First Triumvirate: Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great), Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gaius Julius Caesar. Crassus was one of the wealthiest men in Rome and was famous for ending a massive rebellion of slaves under the gladiator Spartacus. Pompey was a great general who had won many battles in the east, and Caesar, the nephew of Gaius Marius, had conquered Gaul and Britannia (modern France and England.)
When Crassus was killed on a campaign in Parthia, Pompey and Caesar turned against each other. Pompey sided with the optimates and Caesar with the populares. Eventually, Pompey convinced the Senate to order Caesar to return to Rome, where he would surely be arrested. Caesar crossed the Rubicon River but brought his legions with him, dragging the Republic into a civil war. Caesar defeated Pompey and was named dictator for life before the Senate assassinated him in 54 BC, leading to a new civil war between one of Caesar's generals, Marcus Antonius, and his adopted son, Gaius Octavius. Marcus Antonius allied himself with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, but they were both defeated by Octavius.
Faced with his now unrivaled power, the Senate granted Octavius the honorary title Augustus. Although the institutions of the Republic remained, Augustus Caesar had become the first Emperor of Rome.
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